Date of birth: Unknown.Since Giselbert lived until 956, it is very
improbable that he was the Giselbert who was granted certain
manses in the pagus of Atuyer by king Eudes on 21
October 897 ["... cuidam fideli nostro, nomine
Gisleberto, quasdam res fiscales, in pago Attuerensi sitas, ..."
Garnier (1849), 134-5 (#116)], as is claimed by some [Favre
(1893), 193; Poupardin (1901), 336; Poupardin (1907), 206]. Thus, a
birthdate in the general neighborhood of 900 would be more likely
than the much earlier date which would be implied by that
identification.Place of birth: Unknown.

Spouse:Ermengarde.Ermengarde appears in a charter of 11
December 942 with her husband Giselbert and daughter Adélaïde
["S. Giselberti comitis ... S. Ermengardis, que
consensit, Adaleidis filie eorum ..." Werner (1960),
112, n. 95]. Although her origin is unknown, she is often
supposed to be a daughter of duke Richard of Burgundy. For that
and other unproven conjectures regarding her parentage, see the
page of Ermengarde.

Adélaïde
alias Werra, m. Robert, count of Troyes.Since Giselbert had a daughter named
Adélaïde (see above under Ermengarde), and since Robert appears
with a wife of that name [Signum Rotberti
gloriosissimi comitis. S. Adelais comitissae. S. Erberti filii
eorum." Lot (1891), 324, n. 2], it is generally
accepted that Werra was a nickname of Adélaïde. See
the Commentary section for more details.

Giselbert is not known to have had any sons,
and the documentation involving his daughter Liégarde is
straightforward. However, interpretations of the evidence have
varied with regard to his younger daughter or daughters. There
are three basic strands of evidence, along with one other
consideration which has influenced the interpretation of the
evidence:

Count Lambert of Chalon had a wife named Adélaïde,
whose background is not documented, but who has been seen
as the origin of Lambert's claims to Chalon.

We know that Giselbert had a daughter named
Adélaïde, that the only known wife of Robert had the same name,
and that Odoran states that Robert married a daughter of
Giselbert, giving her a very uncommon name. In the absence
of any further considerations, the case for identifying the Werra of the first item with the Adélaïdes of the
second and third items would be excellent, suggesting that
"Werra" was only a nickname of Adélaïde. Here, the
alternative would seem to be that Robert was married twice, once
to Giselbert's daughter Werra and once to an otherwise unknown
Adélaïde, who just happened to have the same name as a sister
of Werra.

The supposed connection of Lambert of Chalon to the family of
Giselbert is based on the fact that Lambert is indicated as the
first count of Chalon (apparently, of his family), and Giselbert
was previously count of Chalon ["... nobilissimus
strenuissimusque Lambertus, filius Rotberti vicecomitis,
Ingeltrude matre ortus, obtinuit comitatum Cabilonensem primus,
assentante rege primoribusque Francie, ..." Cart.
Paray-le-Monial, 2 (#2)]. This has led to the suggestion that
Lambert's claim to Chalon was through his wife Adélaïde,
and that Adélaïde was therefore a daughter or granddaughter of
Giselbert. The fact that Giselbert had a daughter of that name is
given as further support. In addition to the lack of direct
support for this scenario, there is also the fact that it
conflicts with the apparent identification of Adélaïde and
Werra, daughter(s) of Giselbert. Lot suggested that either Robert
was married twice (once to Werra, once to an unrelated
Adélaïde) or Giselbert had two daughters named Adélaïde [Lot
(1891), 327]. Chizelle also accepted that two daughters of
Giselbert had the same name [Chizelle (1986), 66-9].

However, the lack of direct evidence is a major flaw in the
hypothesis that Lambert married a daughter of Giselbert. It is
heavily based on the assumption that Lambert must have married a
daughter or granddaughter of Giselbert to justify his succession
as count of Chalon, and the weakness of the alternate hypothesis
that Adélaïde was a granddaughter of Giselbert
and a daughter of Robert of Troyes. The argument is too weak to
accept without further evidence. More recently, Constance
Bouchard has suggested that Adélaïde's origin should be
regarded as unknown [Bouchard (1987), 309], and Settipani sought
elsewhere for the origins of Adélaïde [Settipani (1994),
44-52]. (See the page of Adélaïde for more details on
various conjectures about her origin.) In my opinion, the best
conclusion for the currently available evidence is that Giselbert
had two documented daughters, Liégard and Adélaïde alias
Werra, of whom the latter married Robert of Troyes.

Conjectured second wife
(doubtful):
NN, daughter of Hugues
"le Noir", d. 952, duke of Burgundy.
Evidently an attempt to explain Giselbert's status as duke of
Burgundy, this is no more convincing than the more frequent
attempts to make Ermengarde a sister of Hugues [Chaume (1925),
545 (table IX), 549 (table XI); see the page of Ermengarde].